Captain Cuttle
{{Short description|British Thoroughbred racehorse}}
{{Infobox racehorse
| horsename =Captain Cuttle
| image_name = Captain Cuttle.jpg
| caption = Captain Cuttle in a photograph by Frank Griggs.
| sire =Hurry On
| grandsire =Marcovil
| dam = Bellavista
| damsire = Cyllene
| sex = Stallion
| foaled = 1919
| country = United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
| colour = Chestnut
| breeder =Lord Woolavington
| owner = Lord Woolavington
| trainer = Fred Darling
| record = 6: 4-1-1
| earnings =£
| race = Epsom Derby (1922)
St James's Palace Stakes (1922)
| awards =
| honours =
|updated=
}}
Captain Cuttle was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He ran only six times in a career which was restricted by chronic injury problems. He was the outstanding British colt of his generation, winning The Derby and the St James's Palace Stakes in 1922. He retired after winning his only race as a four-year-old in 1923.
Background
Captain Cuttle, an exceptionally good-looking chestnut horse with a broad white blaze and three white socks, was bred by his owner Lord Woolavington.{{cite web|url=http://www.horseracinghistory.co.uk/hrho/action/viewDocument?id=928 |title=1st Baron James Woolavington |publisher=Horseracinghistory.co.uk |access-date=2011-11-02}} He was from the first crop of foals sired by the unbeaten champion, Hurry On, making him a representative of the Godolphin Arabian sire line.{{cite web|url=http://www.tbheritage.com/HistoricSires/SireLineschts/SireLineGA.html |title=Godolphin Arabian Line |publisher=Tbheritage.com |access-date=2011-11-02}} Apart from Captain Cuttle, Hurry On sired the winners of seven Classics including the Derby winners Coronach and Call Boy. His most influential son was the Ascot Gold Cup winner Precipitation, who sired four classic winners.
Captain Cuttle was named after the character in Dickens' novel Dombey and Son. Like his sire, Captain Cuttle was trained throughout his career by Fred Darling at Beckhampton in Wiltshire,{{cite web |url=http://www.horseracinghistory.co.uk/hrho/action/viewDocument?id=927 |title=Frederick Darling |publisher=Horseracinghistory.co.uk |access-date=2011-11-02 |archive-date=2012-06-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614112916/http://www.horseracinghistory.co.uk/hrho/action/viewDocument?id=927 |url-status=dead }} and was ridden in his most important races by the leading British jockey of the era Steve Donoghue.{{cite web|url=http://www.horseracinghistory.co.uk/hrho/action/viewDocument?id=877 |title=Horseracing History Online – Person Profile : Stephen Donoghue |publisher=Horseracinghistory.co.uk |access-date=2011-11-02}} The colt was particularly devoted to his trainer, following him "like a pet dog."{{cite web|url=http://www.horseracinghistory.co.uk/hrho/action/viewDocument?id=1026 |title=Horseracing History Online – Horse Profile : Captain Cuttle |publisher=Horseracinghistory.co.uk |access-date=2011-11-02}}
Racing career
=1921: two-year-old season=
Captain Cuttle was a slow-maturing colt and was not highly tried at two. He made only one appearance on the racecourse, finishing second in a minor race at Doncaster. Captain Cuttle's heavy physique and immaturity put a strain on his forelegs, leading Darling to treat him very carefully, riding the colt himself in most of his exercise work.{{cite book | last1 = Mortimer | first1 = Roger |last2=Onslow|first2=Richard|last3=Willett|first3=Peter| title = Biographical Encyclopedia of British Flat Racing| publisher=Macdonald and Jane's | year = 1978| isbn = 0-354-08536-0}}
=1922: three-year-old season=
Captain Cuttle began his three-year-old season in the Wood Ditton Stakes at Newmarket Racecourse, which he won by six lengths. He became ill after the race{{cite web|author=Patricia Erigero Thoroughbred Heritage |url=http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/HurryOn.html#CaptainCuttle |title=Hurry On |publisher=Tbheritage.com |date=1957-03-09 |access-date=2011-11-02}} and had not fully recovered by the time he ran in the 2000 Guineas. He finished third in the Newmarket Classic, beaten a total of seven lengths, behind St Louis and Pondoland.
There were doubts concerning the colt's stamina, and he started at odds of 10/1 in a field of thirty for the Epsom Derby four weeks later. Captain Cuttle missed the parade for the Derby after a delay caused by a shoeing accident. Allegations were later made in the Daily Express that Captain Cuttle had been illegally injected with cocaine, to combat lameness caused by the incident. Lord Woolavington responded by instituting legal proceedings against the newspaper for libel.{{cite web|url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=NZTR19220819.2.37.2&srpos=4&e=-------10--1----0Captain+Cuttle+Derby-- |title=CAPTAIN CUTTLE |via=Papers Past |date=1922-08-19 |access-date=2011-11-02}} Ridden by Donoghue, Captain Cuttle was prominent from the start before moving into the lead entering the straight. He was soon clear and won easily by four lengths from Tamar in a race record time of 2:34.6.{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wQVTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zDcNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4626,166128&dq=captain+cuttle&hl=en|title=Captain Cuttle if equine hero|work=Morning Leader|access-date=2011-11-02}}
The colt was reported to be lame after the race and there were rumours that his career was over{{cite web|url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19230605.2.33.7&srpos=11&e=-------10--11----0Captain+Cuttle+Derby-- |title=ENGLISH DERBY |via=Papers Past |date=1923-06-05 |access-date=2011-11-02}} but he appeared to have recovered in time for Royal Ascot where he won the St James's Palace Stakes over a mile. He then suffered a tendon injury which forced him out for the rest of the season.
=1923: four-year-old season=
On his 1923 debut, Captain Cuttle won the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Kempton. He was being prepared for the Ascot Gold Cup when his tendon problems recurred and he was retired to stud.
Assessment
In their book A Century of Champions, John Randall and Tony Morris rated Captain Cuttle the seventy-third best British horse of the 20th century and the second best Derby winner of the 1920s .Randall, J and Morris, T. . Portway Press, 1999, p. 128
Stud career
Captain Cuttle retired to his owner's stud at Lavington, West Sussex. He had some success, siring the 1000 Guineas winner Scuttle but did not live up to expectations and was sold for a reported £40,000 to stand in Italy in 1927. He died at the Mirafiori stud, near Turin in March 1932 after breaking his back in a freak accident.{{cite web|url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19320329.2.129&srpos=2&e=-------10--1----0Captain+Cuttle+Derby-- |title=CAPTAIN CUTTLE KILLED |via=Papers Past |date=1932-03-29 |access-date=2011-11-02}}
Sire line tree
{{tree list}}
- Captain Cuttle[https://tbheritage.com/Portraits/HurryOn.html Portraits: Hurry On]
- Mint Master
- Walter Gay
- The Recorder
- Pilade
- Gong
{{tree list/end}}
Pedigree
{{Pedigree
|name = Captain Cuttle (GB), chestnut stallion, 1919
|inf =
|f = Hurry On (IRE)
1913
|m = Bellavista (GB)
1904
|ff = Marcovil
1903
|fm = Toute Suite
1904
|mf = Cyllene
1895
|mm = Emotion
1897
|fff = Marco
|ffm = Lady Villikins
|fmf = Sainfoin
|fmm = Star
|mff = Bona Vista
|mfm = Arcadia
|mmf = Nunthorpe
|mmm = Emita
|ffff = Barcaldine
|fffm = Novitiate
|ffmf = Hagioscope
|ffmm = Dinah
|fmff = Springfield
|fmfm = Sanda
|fmmf = Thurio
|fmmm = Meteor
|mfff = Bend Or
|mffm = Vista
|mfmf =Isonomy
|mfmm = Distant Shore
|mmff =Speculum
|mmfm = Matilda
|mmmf = Galopin
|mmmm = Burgundy (Family: 22-c)}}
Name
The name "Captain Cuttle" was taken from a character in Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens, Captain Edward Cuttle. It was subsequently applied to an LNER Class A3 locomotive, No. 2745 (BR number 60091), many of which class were named for racehorses.